SANIBEL’S FERRY DAYS

SANIBEL AND CAPTIVA ISLANDS - AN HISTORICAL SALUTE

Series Written by Anne Marsh
Ft. Myers News Press Article, Summer of 1976

There’s
a status symbol on the islands akin to having ancestors who came to this
country on the Mayflower. These select few first reached these shores via the
Kinzie ferry or the Santiva mail boat when the Sanibel Bridge and Causeway was
but a gleam in a Lee County commissioner’s eye.

The
ferry’s last voyage took place on May 26, 1963, coincident with the opening of
the Sanibel Bridge and Causeway, but let’s examine those ferry days - the days
when Sanibel “closed” at 5:30 pm.

It all
started in 1904 when George F Kinzie and Andrew L. Kinzie, brothers of a Lee
County pioneer family, started operating a freight and excursion steamer
business in Fort Myers. Their steamers
made their way down the Caloosahatchee River to the islands carrying freight,
starting island produce on its way to northern markets, and carrying passengers.

In
1926, the first car and passenger service between Punta Rassa and Sanibel was
inaugurated on a regular basis by a man from Pensacola. This service was
purchased in 1928 by the Kinzie Brothers. The first ferry put in service was
the Best. Later years would see the service grow to a fleet of four boats with
a schedule that had trips departing every 15 minutes from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30
p.m.

The
names of the boats in the Kinzie fleet, in addition to the Best, were the
Islander, Rebel, and the Yankee Clipper.
When questioned about a Southern firm giving the name Yankee Clipper to
their ship, Kinzie replied: “It’s not so strange. Most of her passengers will
be Yankees. I think they’ll appreciate the humor behind the name when paying
the $1.50 to drive on it.”

Captain
Leon Crumpler was the skipper of the fleet, assisted by his son, Captain Andrew
Leon Crumpler, and his son-in-law Richard Chappelle. Captain Crumpler ran a
tight ship but rendered service beyond the call of duty to islanders and
visitors. In emergencies he was always available to make an extra run even in
the wee hours of the morning. At a dinner islanders gave in his honor on his
71st birthday just before the ferries stopped running, he recalled some of his
famous passengers.

“Thomas
A. Edison and Henry Ford,” he related, “were ferry addicts.”

“Edison
was hunting rubber sources and came to the islands to find plants, shrubs and
vines, which he took back in his car to work on in his upriver laboratory,” he
said. On this occasion he stated that he “had carried Charles A. Lindbergh and
his bride Anne Morrow Lindbergh, across the Bay to spend their honeymoon on
Captiva in 1929.”

The
ferry for a period became a seagoing school bus for island youngsters who spent
between four and four and a half hours being transported to school in Fort
Myers.

In the
fifties and the early sixties, the Kinzie ferries flourished following a bleak
World War II period. (In 1942 the government requisitioned the Islander for
troop ferry service; a replacement, Islander II, was put in operation in 1946.)

As of
1952 the service was being run by Andrew Kinzie’s son Ernest. “It was
definitely a full family operation.” recalls Charlotte Kinzie White, Ernest’s
sister. This period saw the creation of
a fishing dock on the Bay, a spacious park with benches and tables for
picnicking that stretched from the Gulf to the Bay, and the opening of the Casa
Marina Restaurant run by Elizabeth Sears and Evelyn Pierson.

Hungry
travelers could partake of anything from a peanut butter sandwich for 25 cents
to a full course meal beginning with shrimp cocktail, a choice of Swedish
meatballs or fried chicken with mashed potatoes and a fresh vegetable and
salad, a wide variety of desserts, rolls and beverage for $2.50. The
restaurant, the old Bailey’s Store and the nearby Post Office were the scenes
of many arrivals and departures of islanders and visitors throughoutt the
years.

On May
26, 1963, the simple style of life was ended with the opening of the Sanibel
Bridge and Causeway. Ironically, Captain Crumpler of the ferry service, rode in
the lead car to make the first bridge crossing on that day. Earlier a tearful
last voyage of the service had been made to a standing-room-only crowd of
sentimental ferry riders. The Santiva mail boat continued only a few months
longer. An era had ended.

And
where have all the ferries gone?

The
Rebel is still plying the waters of Cosco Bay in Portland, Maine, where she
carries passengers and freight. The Yankee Clipper provides services to an
island in Put In Bay on the Gerat Lakes, and the Islander provides waterway
service near a dam in Omaha, Georgia. The Best has made the longest journey of
all away from Sanibel - after being sold to a man in St. James City, she was
re-sold and is now providing ferry service in Puerto Rico.

In a
recent conversation with Ernest Kinzie, it was learned that Lee County
franchised the ferry service. Kinzie had decided the ferry would not compete
with the bridge when it opened. After the ferries ceased serving the island,
the County reimbursed Kinzie for the loss of his docks and his staff retired.

The
swift currents of change have shortened the length of a mainland to island
journey, but also curtailed a bit of its charm. The currents of change are
being felt on the island.

Perhaps
some enterprising seafarer in the future will find merit and profit in
resurrecting ferry service to the islands which cherished it so much in the
past.